One of the things I dread the most is whenever friends ask me to go to karaoke with them. It's not that I don't think karaoke bars are fun. They are. It's just that I can't sing karaoke to save my life. Every time I've tried to sing karaoke, the first thing friends will ask me is, "Are you sure you sing professionally?"
It's rather frustrating, but I guess I am not blessed with a singing voice suitable for karaoke. At least I think that's what it is. Whenever I am with a bunch of friends at a karaoke, I usually shy away from singing. What usually happens is that by the end of the night, my friends will insist that I sing. "Come on, Thien Phu, sing us a song! Why are you trying to act as if you're shy?" The truth of the matter is I'm not shy. I just know that I'm not good singing karaoke. As much as I try to explain myself, my friends usually won't let up. And then after they hear me try to sing karaoke, everyone gets disappointed.
For a long time it used to puzzle me why I was so bad at karaoke. It even made me doubt myself as a professional singer. And then one day, I asked my voice coach, the legendary Vietnamese singer, Thai Thanh. According to Thai Thanh, she has the same problem. Her explanation to me was that we professional singers have been spoiled with having bands play songs in the key our vocal chords are used to and when singing karaoke, we'd fail miserably since the arrangements for the songs are for someone else's key instead of ours. She made a lot of sense.
There was a brief time when I used to do karaoke weddings when I first started out singing. There were a few karaoke songs that I think I sounded okay singing. But still, the image that I now have from those times performing at karaoke weddings are similar to nightmares.
Just the other day, a friend asked me to sing a cappella. I went through with it. But I'll be honest, I was really uncomfortable doing it. I've been used to singing through a microphone for so long, when asked to sing a cappella, I really get caught off guard. Like the saying goes, a singer is nothing without his band.
It's rather frustrating, but I guess I am not blessed with a singing voice suitable for karaoke. At least I think that's what it is. Whenever I am with a bunch of friends at a karaoke, I usually shy away from singing. What usually happens is that by the end of the night, my friends will insist that I sing. "Come on, Thien Phu, sing us a song! Why are you trying to act as if you're shy?" The truth of the matter is I'm not shy. I just know that I'm not good singing karaoke. As much as I try to explain myself, my friends usually won't let up. And then after they hear me try to sing karaoke, everyone gets disappointed.
For a long time it used to puzzle me why I was so bad at karaoke. It even made me doubt myself as a professional singer. And then one day, I asked my voice coach, the legendary Vietnamese singer, Thai Thanh. According to Thai Thanh, she has the same problem. Her explanation to me was that we professional singers have been spoiled with having bands play songs in the key our vocal chords are used to and when singing karaoke, we'd fail miserably since the arrangements for the songs are for someone else's key instead of ours. She made a lot of sense.
There was a brief time when I used to do karaoke weddings when I first started out singing. There were a few karaoke songs that I think I sounded okay singing. But still, the image that I now have from those times performing at karaoke weddings are similar to nightmares.
Just the other day, a friend asked me to sing a cappella. I went through with it. But I'll be honest, I was really uncomfortable doing it. I've been used to singing through a microphone for so long, when asked to sing a cappella, I really get caught off guard. Like the saying goes, a singer is nothing without his band.
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